Predominantly Erroneous (Exohedron nonsense blog)

Because what I really need right now is yet another blog that will be occasionally updated with nonsense and otherwise untouched.

On the other hand, if G+ really does die then I will in fact need somewhere to put my garbage that I can't find a better place for.

[EDIT] Just to make sure it's clear, if for some reason you feel the desire to post something here, either in response to something I've said or done (or that you think I've said or done), I probably won't mind. Don't know why you'd want to, but whatever boats your float.

 

I really want to get into modular music synthesis but it's expensive if done in hardware, and if you're not doing it in hardware then what's the point?
Well, I suppose I could just get Reason; I used to say that I wanted something that could use third-party VSTs, but I haven't been using any for the past 10 years so what does it matter?

 

I don't know why I keep coming back to this kind of question, but fortunately there are only a finite number of cases so I'll run out eventually:

We start with E8 the Lie algebra, break it up into A1, A2 and A5, and have five pieces left over. The five pieces are 2(x)3(x)6, 1(x)3*(x)15, 2(x)1(x)20, 1(x)3(x)15*, and 2(x)3*(x)6*. It is, in fact, the easiest possible nontrivial solution. I don't know why I thought this would be more complicated, given that there really isn't enough room to do anything fancier.

[EDIT]: The full set of solutions:

G2, dimension 14
1-2=3
A₁ + A₁ + 2(x)4
A₂ + 6

F4, dimension 52
1-2-3=4-2
A₁ + C₃ + 2(x)14, 14 = ˄²6
A₂ + A₂ + 3(x)6 + 3*(x)6*, 6 = S²3
A₃ + A₁ + 4(x)2 + 6(x)3 + 4*(x)2, 6 = ˄²4
B₄ + 16, 16 = S

E6, dimension 78
1-2-3-2-1
......2-1
A₁ + A₅ + 2(x)20, 20 = ˄³6
A₂ + A₂ + A₂ + 3(x)3(x)3 + 3*(x)3*(x)3*

E7, dimension 133
1-2-3-4-3-2-1
..........2
A₁ + D₆ + 2(x)32, 32 = S
A₂ + A₅ + 3(x)15 + 3*(x)15*, 15 = ˄²6
A₃ + A₁ + A₃ + 4(x)2(x)4 + 6(x)1(x)6 + 4*(x)2(x)4*, 6 = ˄²4
A₇ + 70, 70 = ˄⁴8

E8, dimension 248
1-2-3-4-5-6-4-2
.................3
A₁ + E₇ + 2(x)56
A₂ + E₆ + 3(x)27 + 3*(x)27*
A₃ + D₅ + 4(x)16 + 6(x)10 + 4(x)16*, 6 = ˄²4, 16 = S
A₄ + A₄ + 5(x)10 + 10(x)5* + 10*(x)5 + 5*(x)10, 10 = ˄²5
A₅ + A₁ + A₂ + 6(x)2(x)3 + 15(x)1(x)3* + 20(x)2(x)1 + 15*(x)1(x)3 + 6*(x)2(x)3*, 15 = ˄²6, 20 = ˄³6
A₇ + A₁ + 28(x)2 + 70(x)1 + 28*(x)2, 28 = ˄²8, 70 = ˄⁴8
D₈ + 128, 128 = S
A₈ + 84 + 84*, 84 = ˄³9

 

Conflicting access memory

 

It's not uncommon for people to be able to hear while asleep, and whatever they hear merges into their dreams without them really noticing that anything is off.
Apparently I can get my eyes open, my muscles unlocked and my prioperception fully functioning and my brain is still fully convinced that I'm still in whatever situation I was in before all of this extra input started coming in. So I'll be staring at my phone and turning the alarm off and fully aware that my body and limbs are positioned in what awake-me would classify as "lying down", but, despite all of that, in my head I'm also still standing in a hallway talking to someone, hold on a moment I just need to turn this noise off okay what were you saying?

 

Today several of my coworkers found out how disappointing it is to actually play dreidel.

 

A few weeks ago my mom asked me why people like the song Bohemian Rhapsody so much. It's complicated, parts of it are hard to sing, and on the surface level it doesn't really cohere lyrically.
And yet if you get a decent crowd together and belt out "Is this the real life" you'll probably get at least a few other people to take up the song.
I'm not actually sure what the answer to her question is. I mean, yeah, it is fun to sing, but plenty of things are fun to sing that don't have nearly as much traction. And I'm pretty sure that it's not some deep meaning or resonance in the lyrics; I don't have enough faith in people for that. Is it because it's a complicated song compared to most pop?
I'm sure there's a complex historical process by which the reason for its popularity evolved over time, informed by it being popular in the past, but what drove that initial run? Is it because it's Queen?

 

So a fun thing you can do with binocular vision: get within maybe a foot or two of something sufficiently detailed that you can focus on it. I'm using my computer keyboard. Now spread the fingers on one hand out and hold your hand with your palm facing your mouth, maybe an inch or two in front of your face so that you go cross-eyed trying to look at your fingers. Now, keeping your fingers between your eyes and the keyboard, focus on the keyboard, or whatever.

Due to your brain trying to piece together a coherent understanding of the world from two slightly different viewpoints, you end up able to see the keyboard without any noticeable obstacles; instead your brain just takes the parts of the images that don't contain your fingers and weaves them together, so that while you can still see your fingers, sort of, they vanish from the image that your brain concocts. Even when you move your fingers, as long as you keep your eyes focused on the keyboard your brain just works around the pesky flesh nubs.

Note that this only really works if you have your fingers spread, because you need at least one eye able to see each key on the keyboard. Otherwise your brain has nothing to work with, and while it's happy to make things up if it really has to, it's only going to try so hard.

 

"Have you tried gazing at other people's navels?"

 

That feel when you find out that your training data is somewhere between slightly garbage and strangely garbage, and that you could fix it but not before your vacation starts. So instead you just set the machine to train a ridiculous amount on the less-garbage data and head home.

 

I'm glad I managed to not tell my coworker that her little bottlecap snowman decoration looked like it was dying. I mean, yeah, the face looked like it was supposed to be whistling, but the note was small enough that it just looked like a shocked "oh." And that was supposed to be a heart on its stomach, but the way it was placed slightly off-center and tilted and the way the hands were covering the edges made it look like he was trying to keep pressure on a grievous stab wound.
But I didn't say anything at the time, and by the time I get back to the office it will probably be gone.

 

The good thing about having the parents I do is that when my dad complains about me being sarcastic at him I get to say that I learned it from my mom, who usually just sits there and laughs at him.

 

I think my favorite phrase in the English language might currently be "I don't know what to do with this information".

 

Two of my coworkers have a habit of getting into philosophical discussions at work. Which, cool, I like hearing think-y people be think-y at each other. And every once in a while I hear something that I have maybe some understanding of, like the recent discussion about Aquinas' arguments for the existence of God.
And every once in a while I think that I might like to join these discussions, because they sound interesting and fun.
But then I realize that my basic ontological framework, having been molded by a combination of Buddhist/Daoist ideas of anti-logic enlightenment mixed with the Wrong Kind of Mathematics, differs enough from the ones used in these discussions that I'm not sure I can really assert anything in a way that fits the discussion at hand. The best I can do is poke holes in arguments, which is its own kind of fun, but can leave one feeling a bit mean if that's all one has to contribute.
There are several reasons that my user title is "Doesn't like words".

 

Watch me be the first person to get heat stroke in 30 degree (F) weather.

 

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse was a little cookie-cutter in terms of the plot and the writing, being a superhero action movie, but whatever; the important part was the aesthetic. Damn did this movie go all in on aesthetic.

Spoiler

The text boxes, the sound effects, the action lines (oh man the action lines). The comic-book covers for the intros/backstories.
Also the acknowledgements of the fact that there were several aesthetic styles in play, for the different universes. The way the different Spiderpeople were designed, the way they moved and fought, the gag with the Rubik's cube.
Also the ending credits with the Spiderman memes.

This is definitely a movie that you can really dive into regarding the presentation, the style and technique.

 

I wish I was able to appreciate academic writing that isn't mathematics because I would love to know what musicologists have to say about Vocaloid.

 

Overhearing a 10-year-old girl explaining the effects of the shutdown and Trump's recent decisions on veterans' benefits to her brother. Very articulate.
I didn't know shit about politics at her age.

[Edit]: And now he's making jokes about the collapse of the Bronze Age.

 

I know it's supposed to be motivational and crap, but the fact that it suddenly turns a bright "if this was on a wall it would indicate a fire-hazard" red is a little alarming.

 

I was going to dump the prompt "Humanity is God's attempt at an artificial intelligence Singularity. He's not sure He's happy with the current state of the project." but then I remembered that that's just the premise of Evangelion.

[EDIT] The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Adam and Eve being forbidden from eating from the Tree of Knowledge is roughly mappable to the Singularity issue. God fears being replaced by a being that can rival Him and which is not Him and which He cannot control.